MICRO MONDAYS: The Maurice de Mauriac L3 Sees Red Chronograph exploits coloured sapphire crystal for dazzling effect

In the world of microbrands, it can be hard to stand out amidst the barrage of vintage-style divers and explorer’s watches. What isn’t hard to stand out with? A super slick minimalist chronograph that could seamlessly blend into a sci-fi franchise, with a bright red-tinted sapphire crystal that almost glows with a fiery malice.

Maurice de Mauriac certainly aren’t strangers to the art of cool. In fact, their website currently lists no fewer than 84 watches across a range of genres that each have their own distinct character. It’s proof of a brand with their finger on the pulse of watch enthusiasts. Given that their watches can draw inspiration from legendary brands such as Patek Philippe, Cartier, Omega and Heuer, it’s incredibly impressive to see that none of them stray too close to the “homage” line, allowing the Maurice de Mauriac name to live up to its own integrity.

This newest and most exciting release is part of the brand’s stripped-back trilogy, with the L1 being a go-anywhere do-anything watch and the L2 being a chunky and delightfully devilish 300M diver. The L3 Chronograph takes some minor inspiration from the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch, however those elements such as the thin “white” hands and small rectangular indices are given completely new context here. While the legibility of the Moonwatch is legendary, it’s brought up a notch by the Bauhaus-style approach of subtractive functionality, removing all unnecessary dial text and taming some of the overreaching markings. The triple-register chronograph subdials are just as easy to read, with different printed markers to delineate between them.

But, of course, the real star of the show is the L3 Chronograph’s blood-red domed sapphire crystal. The visual effect is totally captivating, with a healthy coating of blue anti-reflective undercoating that mixes with the red to create a liquid purple effect in the right lighting conditions. Although watchmakers have flirted with the idea of tinted crystals before, with even the mighty Rolex trying out a slightly green crystal on the Milgauss 116400GV, it’s rarely been exploited to its full potential. With Maurice de Mauriac executing it this well, however, we can surely hope to see more creative applications in the future in a greater array of colours.

While the crystal does form the spotlight, the rest of the parts which make up the watch certainly can’t be ignored. Firstly, the case is gorgeous, with a sleek ‘60s racing chronograph style reminiscent of the Hamilton reference 7723. It has a dark gun-metal DLC coating that perfectly complements the abyssal black of the dial mixing with the blue anti-reflective sheen of the crystal, and a pleasing set of dimensions. The 40.5mm in diameter, 48mm lug-to-lug, and 13mm thickness ensures a good fit on the average wrist, while the expansive dial fills the no-bezel design.

The 13mm thickness is courtesy of a rather intriguing movement from the brand Concepto. It’s well-known that the Valjoux/ETA 7750 movement is a modular chronograph, with an automatic winding system essentially stacked on the back of an originally hand-wound design. Formed in 2006, Concepto have become masters of reverse engineering that ubiquitous movement, allowing for modifications as complicated as retrograde displays, split-seconds, power reserves and GMTs. Their calibre C2000 has over 70 possible combinations of functionality. This Maurice de Mauriac L3 uses the Concepto Tricompax 99001, which was made for the brand to be exclusively hand-wound in pursuit of reducing thickness as well as old-school charm. The movement is decorated and looks especially pretty through the red-tinted sapphire caseback.

The Maurice de Mauriac L3 Sees Red is a limited edition of 100 pieces and is available on a choice of three leather straps for 5200CHF. At this point, we struggle to justify Maurice de Mauriac’s status as a microbrand, as the sheer volume of their catalogue is definitely pushing the threshold into “brand” territory, and that’s without bringing up the solid reputation of brand founder Daniel Dreifuss. The reality is, this is every bit a luxury watch, and a truly unique one at that. If you’re looking for a conversation starter, or perhaps just something to fill a hole in your collection that you didn’t know you had, then look no further.